Had he lived past the age of 54, Krzysztof Kieslowski might today be acknowledged as the greatest living film director. His ambition and insight suggested that of silent film directors like D.W. Griffith and Erich von Stroheim, who worked at a time when it was still believed that movies might alter the course of history itself, and his final work, the Trois Couleurs trilogy, indicated that that ambition was growing, and could turn to any subject without betraying its fundamental humanity (granted, he did say that these would be his final films). Taken from the French principles of liberty, equality, and brotherhood, Kieslowski takes broad, monolithic ideas about nationhood, and exemplifies them in commonplace, even mundane situations. But through their juxtaposition, commonality emerges, and a portrait of a flawed nation in flux becomes as near complete as one could hope.
At the time of production, Europe was only a few years out from the fall of the Soviet Union, a historical roadmark referenced several times in all three films. In Blue, the composer husband of Julie (Juliette Binoche) is working on the "Concert for the Unity of Europe" at the time of his death, catalyzing her own "liberation" from personal responsibility and human contact. In White, polish national Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) loses everything in his divorce with Dominique (Julie Delpy), providing the foundation for his elaborate revenge; the direct instigation is personal, but the larger picture is one of resentment between the former Soviet bloc states and those who had it easy on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The context is less overt in Red, but no less important. Valentine (Irene Jacob), a model living in Geneva, accidentally strikes a dog with her car, then returns it to its owner, a disinterested judge who spies on his neighbors. There may not be a Russian in sight, but the themes of surveillance and voyeurism, as well as the challenge of coming to understand someone you would naturally regard as a threat, were very contemporary at the time.
As with any anthology, there is a temptation to rank the different pieces independent pieces separate from one another; any way you measure it, White is the odd one out. A sex comedy sandwiched between two female-driven dramas, the sophomore entry would probably throw off the center of balance entirely were the series either longer or shorter. But incongruous as it is, it is a welcome piece of levity after the staggering heartbreak of Blue, and serves as an agreeable bridge between its study in isolation and the unlikely community of Red.
But Blue and Red are not as similar as they first appear, particular in terms of their aesthetic style. Both films open kinetically, but with highly different attitudes. Blue's inciting event, a car crash, occurs off-screen, heard but seen only in its aftermath. Red opens with a telephone conversation, but traces the line through the telephone wire, down through the English channel, and out onto the other side, not all that differently than James Spader and Kurt Russell went through the Stargate. Were the visual quality less consistent, one could almost believe that these films were done by different directors, but by the time Kieslowski has made such a bold move, it has greater accumulated significance than it would in a stand-alone film.
Compare this journey over national boundaries to the one made by Karol in White, which takes a great deal of discipline, stress and careful planning just to get back to his native Poland. Or to the greater geographic perspective that the series gains as it progresses, from France in Blue, to France and Poland in White, to England and Switzerland in Red. As Europe's own divisions began to dissolve in ways unimaginable to prior generations, the greater Trois Couleurs's range of motion grew, to the point where French revolutionary principles can be reflected in people’s lives across the whole of Europe. But as those principles are spread, they are reformed by their union with other revolutions, past, present, and future. Liberty, equality, and brotherhood may not mean to Julie, Dominique, and Valentine what they mean to the whole of Europe, or even to each other, but they are relevant because they form the bedrock of not just how we form our nations and communities, but our relationships and our lives.
Bonus Features
The three films come in three separate boxes, so bonus materials are spread out over three discs. They include:
New high-definition digital restorations (with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks on the Blu-ray editions)
Three cinema lessons with director Krzysztof Kieślowski
New interviews with composer Zbigniew Preisner; writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz; and actors Julie Delpy, Zbigniew Zamachowski, and Irène Jacob
Selected-scene commentary for Blue with actress Juliette Binoche
Three new video essays, by film writers Annette Insdorf, Tony Rayns, and Dennis Lim
Kieślowski’s student short The Tram (1966) and his fellow student’s short from the same year The Face, which features Kieślowski in a solo performance
Two short documentaries by Kieślowski: Seven Women of Different Ages (1978) and Talking Heads (1980)
Krzysztof Kieślowski: I’m So-So . . . (1995), a feature-length documentary in which the filmmaker discusses his life and work
Two multi-interview programs, Reflections on “Blue” and Kieślowski: The Early Years, with film critic Geoff Andrew, Binoche, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, Insdorf, Jacob, and editor Jacques Witta
Interviews with producer Marin Karmitz and Witta
Behind-the-scenes programs for White and Red, and Kieślowski Cannes 1994, a short documentary on Red’s world premiere
Original theatrical trailers New and improved English subtitle translations
There is also a booklet featuring essays by critics Colin MacCabe, Nick James, Stuart Klawans, and Georgina Evans, an excerpt from Kieślowski on Kieślowski, and reprinted interviews with cinematographers Sławomir Idziak, Edward Klosinski, and Piotr Sobocinski
"Three Colors: Blue, White, Red" is on sale November 15, 2011 and is rated R. Foreign. Written and directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Starring Jean Louis Trintignant, Julie Delpy, Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Irene Jacob.
